Privatisation and issue of transparency
Privatisation is the process of transferring ownership of a publicly owned business enterprise, agency, service, or property to the private sector. The true owners of the public business and its…
Understanding the threat
AT least two things are quite clear about the lethal terrorist assault that took place on the Karachi airport’s cargo terminal. First, more than one terrorist group was behind this…
Exploring extremism
INCREASING intolerance and the growing incidence of violent behaviour in Pakistani society require a review of the conventional understanding of extremism in Pakistan. Apart from the process of social transformation…
The central actor
Our political structure has seldom appeared more brittle. Political parties are at each other’s throats just as the religious groups always were; and now the provincial assemblies too seem at…
History on the march and repeating itself
Nawaz Sharif at loggerheads with the army again, the old pattern of 1999 repeating itself. Cruel destiny…is Pakistan doomed to walk the paths it has trodden before? What is at…
Questions for JI chief
Sirajul Haq’s election as the Jamaat-i-Islami’s new emir raises some questions about the party’s policies at a time when the government is holding talks with the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan. At issue…
The state’s lost narrative
THE debate on extremism often gets muddled when it comes to the issue of narrative. A segment of Pakistani society believes that there is a need for developing counter narratives…
Capitalist democracy: what can it deliver?
We should be clear about the basics. This is not a people’s democracy, never can be. This is sarmayadarana (capitalist) democracy, dominated by a political class drawn from the pampered,…
Privatisation. Yes. But, why?
As Pakistan prepares to navigate a new round of privatisation and as we engage in passionate conversation about what is to be privatised, when, and how, it may be useful…
Magic` and reality
BEFORE his death in a US drone strike, the Pakistani Taliban chief Hakeemullah Mehsud had started to feel better thanks to the `spiritual` healing at the hands of an Arab…
